Bella Alten by Aime Dupont

Bella Alten as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, (Engelbert Humperdinck)

BELLA ALTEN
(June 30, 1877 - December 31, 1962)
Polish Soprano

Studied with Gustav Engel and Joachim at the Imperial Conservatory in Berlin, and later with Aglaja Orgeni in Dresden. Her first appearance in opera was as Aennchen in Der Freischütz in 1897 after which engagements followed in Berlin, Brunswick, Cologne and London. She was singing Cherubino in Marriage of Figaro, Nedda in Pagliacci and Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under Hans Richter (conductor) when Heinrich Conried (then the Metropolitan Opera's General Manager) heard her at the Covent Garden and engaged her for the Met.

Her New York debut took place in November 1904 as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro in a cast that included Emma Eames, Marcella Sembrich and Antonio Scotti

In November 1905 when she sang Gretel in the premiere Metropolitan performance of Hänsel und Gretel, the composer Engelbert Humperdinck was in the audience